Reply With QuoteThat’s pretty shocking.
Try not to let it put you off. These things happen, especially when you make as many watches as Longines.
Hope it gets sorted quickly.
I sent my Longines HydroConquest Chronograph in for warranty work (just the hour pointer being misaligned)
3 week's later I received it back yesterday (great) hmm not so
I usually test everything as soon as I get it back but I forgot & realised today I hadn't tested the chronograph running.
I'm standing in Greggs looking at the time then thought Ohh I'll try the chronograph, IT'S BROKEN, the pushers are solid and don't engage.
Seriously I've mentioned here before about a Longines Heritage 1967 horror story after sending it for service and I'm beginning to think I'm cursed when it comes to Longines and their service centre.
All it needed was a hand realigned and it's knackered.
Yet another phone call will be happening on Monday.
This is the 3rd time (3 out of 3) that they have messed thing's up, 4 if you count the other HydroConquest I'm waiting to get back because it arrived brand new with dust inside the dial. God knows what that will come back like.
Fingers crossed it's OK but I've lost faith
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That’s pretty shocking.
Try not to let it put you off. These things happen, especially when you make as many watches as Longines.
Hope it gets sorted quickly.
It's just a matter of time...
How a watch can be released by the service centre with an obvious fault is beyond me! This is the same organisation that won’t make parts generally available supposedly to safeguard quality of work.
It isn’t rocket science, after resetting the hr counter hand the chrono should be tested and re - zeroed a few times to confirm the hand s mounted correctly, that’s the only way to do the job properly.
These things happen but a three-peat is pretty shocking.
If bought new and within the last year I'd be asking for a refund or replacement.
Strange because Longines have an excellent all round reputation.
You've got more patience than me. Good luck getting them both back in perfect nick.
P.S. Your username seems a good summary of the Longines service experience.
Heritage diver came back after service running worse than when it went in but looking like brand new. I only had to send that back once. (they replaced the movement)
Heritage 1967 came back 3 time's and eventually all that was original was the dial and the bracelet, that one really was an absolute nightmare.
On the original service they replaced the crown, pushers, handset. That's the norm on a Longines service but the case and crystal was because they broke the case but the case is replaced with a new crystal as standard.
In all honesty I really can't fault there customer service but the service centre itself is seriously lacking in quality control.
On Monday I will now insist that it is fully disassembled and inspected then rectified.
I just hope I don't have to wait 4 months like the last disaster.
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Last edited by sickie; 21st January 2023 at 16:04.
How frustrating OP.
Makes me wonder (as I fall out of love with the likes of Rolex) what brands offer the best all round ownership experience when considering factors such as attainability, value for money (which for me would be based around depreciation from new, but something else to others), reliability, service costs and customer service.
From my own experience that would put Sinn at the top of the list of brands I've owned.
Would be interesting to see which other brands would rank well...
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Think about it: there’s nothing to suggest the movement has a fault so why would you ask for it to be ‘fully disassembled’?Originally Posted by sickie
The problem with the chrono not running will almost certainly be due to the movement not aligning correctly with the case or movement ring. Here’s what will happen (or should happen):
The movement will be removed from the case and the crown/ stem refitted. The movement will be fitted into a movement holder and the action of the levers ( operated by the pushers in the case) will be tested. If all’s well the movement will be fully wound and both amplitude and rate tested with the chrono running and not running. If all's well no further work to the movement is justified. Attention will turn to the case and pushers to check for problems. Any fault will be corrected then the movement and movement ring will be reunited with the case. Action of the pushers will be thoroughly checked, crown refitted, check again, refit caseback, check action of pushers and crown with caseback fully tightened.
This is what I’d do and frankly I wouldn’t appreciate being told how to do the job by the owner, you have to trust the capability of the repairer despite your frustrations. Your energy would be better spent writing a covering letter to enclose with the watch stating exactly what is wrong, if the pushers won’t operate make that clear, if the pusher operates but the chrono doesn’t start make that clear.
I suspect the problem is linked to having more than one person working on the watch, that’s something I personally dislike and disagree with. If one guy does everything he takes full responsibility, there’s nowhere to hide if it’s wrong and that’s a great motivator to get it right first time every time. Service centres don’t work that way, but someone should be responsible for final checking and it’s clear in this case that they got it wrong. Staff absence at this time if year could be an issue but that’s no excuse, sending a watch out that’s not functioning is inexcusable and someone heeds a KUTA*
*’Kick Up The Arse’ in 70s pre-politically correct parlance, KUTA was the precursor to modern day counselling and was far more effective!
Sorry to hear this OP - not very confidence inspiring but at least they’ll keep going till they finally get it right :/
Terrible experience and poor QC at their service centre ..
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After speaking to Longines it's going back for a full inspection and repair.
I get what you're saying Walter but after 3 disasters I think I'm entitled to be a bit miffed, I'm pretty sure anyone else would be very unhappy as the lack of quality control that I've experienced.
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I can sort of understand if they sent a replacement but if you send them a faulty watch for attention you expect them to check it before it’s sent out
Makes the idea of sending a watch back to them for routine servicing seem rather bad idea - it'd come back worse than it went in!
I had a worse experience with Swatch group on an Omega. I vowed never to buy anything from them again! Hope it works out but if I were you, I’d part company with Longines after this one.
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It goes back today so hopefully it will be sorted in the next couple of weeks, saying that I'm still waiting for another they've had for over a month and all it was sent in for was a speck of dust on the dial.
Finger's crossed this time.
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Wow, what a difference to my experience with my Hydroconquest. It was losing about 14 seconds a day, so I sent it back saying it was out of spec.... they sent me the packing to return it and had it delivered back to them. It came back within 10 days and is running phenomenally well, after 4 days at work it is now just 5 seconds slow, checked against Time Is, which is what I set it against last Sunday night. I am extremely happy with mine. Maybe yours is a Friday afternoon one?
It’s entirely random I think, but every service experience I have had with Omega / Swatch has been awful. If you go back through my posts a good few years who I sent an x-33 for an overhaul, and after spending 1k and waiting ages, they actually sent my watch back with no changes and a new crystal loose in the travel case! I complained, in the end it was sent to Bienne, but Southampton have been so bad, it makes me really wary of Omega.
Having re-read the OP's post he states that neither pusher would work. I think it likely that the movement ring has been fitted slight out of line, there are 3 cut-outs in the ring to allow the stem and both pushers to function. Whoever cased the watch up has probably got the ring slightly misaligned, it'll allow the stem to work OK but may be blocking the action of the pushers. If that's the case it's a 5 minute job to fix and does not require further dismantling.
The watch should've been fully checked by whoever handled it last, but that's always a weakness when more than one person works on a watch (or anything), if there's only 1 pair of hands involved. Swatch Service Centre know best......maybe?
My lack of faith in Longines and the chronograph not working also stems from part of the disaster on the second one I sent for service came back running like a bag of hammer's but the chrono worked fine.
After receiving it back the chronograph was destroyed, pushers worked but the hands jumped all over the place, figure that one out
After I sent that back again is when they we're going to replace the case.
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